Goodbye 1st Grade lunch

WooHoo!!!! We finally made it! The last day of school is here. We are all sooo ready for summer break. My little guy will be moving up to 2nd grade next year. Way to go, Z!! My oldest will be headed to high school. I have to admit....I feel a bit melancholy over this. How did this happen?? Where has the time gone? How have both of these boys gotten so big? Time passes so quickly, doesn't it, Friends? Before we can blink, it will be time to start the new school year, too. The summer break always flies by. We are definitely going to enjoy it, though!

I got the inspiration for today's "Goodbye 1st Grade" lunch from a super cute lunch from Dina over at What The Girls Are Having. You can see Dina's fun lunch HERE. Please stop by and visit Dina's blog and shower her with lots of comment love. Her lunches are so creative and amazingly yummy. You will find lots of great lunch inspiration.

This lunch is packed in a Easy Lunch Boxes.
*peanut butter and strawberry all-fruit spread sandwich- I cut the words "Goodbye 1st Grade" out of a piece of bread and lightly sprayed the letters with Wilton Color mist. I put a tiny dot of peanut butter on the back each letter so they wouldn't be flopping around in transit.
*Rold Gold pretzel rods
*strawberries and peaches with a few star shaped candies sprinkled on top
*white cheddar Babybel cheese- This is a new food like for Z. He is not a fan of most cheese that's not cooked into a dish. He will eat cheese on a sandwich, and on pizza, and quesadillas, and such. But, he's not likely to eat cheese if it's separate in his lunch. For him to like the Babybel cheese is a big deal. Yay for Babybel!! I wrote the words "U Did It!" on the cheese wax with a food safe marker.
*carrot rounds and green olives
*linked to: Eats Amazing/ Fun Food Friday



Some of the things, or similar things, that I used to make this lunch:

Go RED for heart health...

Hi Friends! I hope you all are having a great first week of February. I am so excited to share today's lunch with you. Most of you know that February is the American Heart Association's Heart Month. The AHA promotes Heart Month to raise awareness about heart disease and how people can prevent it. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States. Every year, 1 in 4 deaths is caused by heart disease. Today, February 7th, is set aside as National Go RED day where the AHA urges people to support the fight against heart disease by wearing (or promoting) the color red.

This month has very special meaning to me for a couple reasons. A few months ago, my older brother had an episode with his heart which resulted in his being diagnosed with heart disease and several blocked arteries. He also had an arterial clot in his heart which very well could have ended his life.These 2 issues resulted in his having a double bypass operation.While a double bypass alone is terrifying, my dear brother took a stand for his faith and chose to do a bloodless double bypass operation. I am happy to say that he has recovered well from this and is taking his heart health seriously now (um, yeah, he better be!!). I am so proud of my brother for his courage and conviction during this time. He is a very wonderful awe-inspiring man.

I also support Go RED day for another wonderful man that sadly succumbed to heart failure over 12 years ago. This man happened to be the father of my very best bestie in the world. I spent many fabulously fun days at my bestie's house as a kid, and I have very fond memories of him. I will forever miss his dry sense of humor and his terrific penmanship.

So, in keeping with the Go RED theme, today's lunch features all red foods (well, minus the pretzels). Today's lunch also honors 2 very great men....my brother Tony Howell, and my bestie's father Keith Arps.

The Lucky Lunchbox encourages all of my readers to "know your numbers". The five key markers below are good indicators of your heart health. By keeping these numbers within a healthy range, you can greatly improve your heart health and reduce your risk of heart disease.

1. Blood pressure

2. Blood sugar

3. Cholesterol
4. BMI
5. Weight

Now, on to the lunch!
This lunch is packed in Easy Lunch Boxes.
* heart shaped peanut butter and all-fruit spread sandwich with cheddar cheese 'know your numbers' (I used a light spray of Wilton Color Mist in red on the sandwich.)
* pretzel balls
* heart shaped red bell peppers with homemade 'Healthy Heart Healthy You' pick
* heart shaped red delicious apple with mini heart cutout in center
* red Hershey's kiss
* linked to: Beneficial Bento/ Fancy sandwich Friday

Some of the things, or similar, things, that I used to make this lunch:

Ladybug lunch

 Back home now from our journey to the mountains this week, and I'm sooo ready to get back to making lunches for Z. I hadn't planned to post a lunch this week, but I had a fabulous surprise waiting on me when we returned...my Yumbox arrived!! Z was very excited to try it out, so I went ahead and made this quick lunch for him. He even picked out the theme of ladybugs. I think we are really going to enjoy this lunchbox. Well, back to the dreaded chore of unpacking. See you all next week!

This lunch is packed in the green Yumbox.
*circle Applegate ham ladybug sandwiches decorated with a light spray of Wilton red Color Mist and black edible food marker
*sweet corn with carrot flower and dill pickle stem and leaves, orange cherry tomato
*red seedless grapes and pear chunks
*honey wheat pretzel sticks
*applesauce and Craisins in the small circle cup
*linked to Following In My Shoes/ I  Heart Lunch

Things I used to make this lunch:
Ladybug food picks
Silicone food cup

I think I'm going to really like using the Yumbox. It's a very good size for my first grader. It holds plenty of food for him, and he really likes to have his food separated, so this lunchbox will work well for him. Yay for Yumbox!!

Fire museum field trip....

One of the things that I enjoy most about being a stay-at-home mom is that I can volunteer and help out at Z's school. I'm so excited that I get to be a chaperone for a field trip to our local fire museum tomorrow. Z is totally obsessed with all things fireman, so he is crazy excited about this field trip, too. So, tomorrow's lunch is a special field trip lunch. The fire truck didn't turn out quite how I wanted, but Z will love it, so I guess that's what matters.

Z requested the twisty Fritos in his lunch. I normally wouldn't put them in a lunch but according to Z, "it's a special day, Mom. They will make my field trip better." How can you argue with the logic of a 5 yr old? So, twisty Fritos it is!

This lunch is packed in Easy Lunch Boxes.
*Applegate bologna firetruck sandwich with black olive wheels (I used a light spray of Wilton Color Mist for the red.)
*Fritos twists
*corn and peas mix
*strawberries and seedless green grapes
*baby dill pickle
*dalmation yogurt- Dannon vanilla yogurt with mini chocolate chips (thanks to Mamabelly for the fabulous dalmation yogurt idea!)

Things I used to make this lunch:
Easy Lunch Boxes
Wilton 101 piece cookie cutter set